Catalonia Bavaro Resort: Is the third time the charm?

As suggested by the title, this was my 3rd visit to Catalonia Bavaro Golf and Casino Resort. Previous visits were pre-COViD in 2018 and 2019 when we found this to be an excellent 5 star experience. Our trip in 2018 was so good that our golf group chose to return to a Resort in 2019 for the first time in our history. Obviously we were hoping for the same with our return this year. With the exception of the check-in experience, it was ( more on this later). From the moment you step off your s [... read more]huttle, you know that you are in a special place. The lobby is stunning and welcoming at the same time. Helped by a friendly and active front staff. The rest of the resort was as remembered all the way to the beach. Buffet and à la carte choices were all very well staffed and full of delicious options for everyone. Sadly we discovered that the large bean-shaped table that the 20 of us were so fond of gathering at in the lobby bar, was gone. This only forced us to find another spot to call ours, which we did! The service from our servers was excellent. My experience with housekeeping was outstanding. She was dedicated to making my room a highlight of my stay. The same goes for the pool bar staff. Now to return to the check-in experience at the front desk. This was so poorly done, that in spite of everything else being so good, there likely won't be a 4th visit from our little group. There is the typical large, wide counter and despite the fact that there were 20+ people checking in at the same time, there were only 2 attendants. And these guys kept disappearing into a side office for long periods of time. I would say that I was in the middle of the line and that it was an hour before I got to the counter. I apologize that I am an English only, speaking guest. This was clearly a source of irritation to everyone who was on the other side of the counter. I was ignored, interrupted and made to feel, at best, tolerated. And that was the good part of my experience at the front desk. Next, they advised me that at 4:30 in the afternoon, my room wasn't yet ready. I was banded and advised to go find something to eat or drink and return to the desk, my room would be ready for sure. All I can say is that between then and 6:30 I returned at the instructed intervals, 4 times. Each time I had line up and wait my turn, only to be told 3 of those times, my room still was not ready. I was given so many excuses (lies), I won't waste my time listing them here. The best was when a gentleman claiming to be the supervisor suggested that the delay was somehow my fault. After a wait of 3 hours I was finally assigned a room. The bell hop delivered me to my room, only to discover that the maid was still working on it. I guess that is better than what 1 of my 4 travel mates who enjoyed this same 3 hour wait found when he opened his door - another guest already in the room. I think that is my 'drop the mic' moment.

Catalonia Yucatan: Not worth the money.......

Honestly.... we really did not like the resort at all. it was terrible!! I like the area it is located in.... but my husband NEVER had a hot shower... we NEVER got to actually use the app to book at any restaurants which meant i had the same buffet for the whole trip.... It was the worst resort I have been to.... and I am disappointed to say the least.... truly I was sooo disappointed I feel like i need a trip from that trip!! the travel agent who helped us was the only good thing about it a [... read more]ll.

Catalonia Bavaro Resort: It's ok!

It's an ok resort. Rooms need to be upgraded! Only 1 pool and its full of kids. So go to adults only if you don't want kids all around all the time! Beach is terrible! Lots of rocks I got a couple cuts walking in the water. Its not a beach that you can swim in. The water only came up to my waist and that was even after walking out past where they have the net. Make sure to wear watershoes. Food was just alright right. Staff was very friendly.

Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Nice vacation!

We came here to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. The Catalonia Royal side is compact and thus has everything within short distance. Although the grounds were well maintained, the pools clean and the beach beautiful (efforts were made every morning to clean out the sargassum), the restaurants were great as well as the food and drinks, the rooms were below average for being called ‘privilege rooms’; old dates and with damage clearly visible in some of the furniture. Staff were amazing, f [... read more]riendly especially on dining areas but not so much at the beach bar. Many thanks to Nisia for arranging us a better room and also for planning our dinner on our anniversary day.

Catalonia Riviera Maya: Amazing stay

Everything was awesome. Couple of suggestions. Add some more traditional food items in buffet . Some Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern dishes . Need to work more on dampness in the rooms . Oh also juices especially orange juice should be freshly squeezed. ( if possible) . And also it’s a bit expensive when purchasing something. Us $ is not cheep when we convert Canadian $ in us . Prices were very high .

Catalonia Riviera Maya: Could've been better

My family and I stayed at the resort from June 26th to July 3rd for a week. The resort itself is aesthetically pleasing, and the dining options, including buffets, a la carte restaurants, and snack bar, were quite enjoyable. The pools were meticulously maintained and consistently clean. We found ample seating available at both the buffets and snack bar throughout our stay. However, we encountered challenges with our accommodations. Despite my prior request via email two weeks before our arriv [... read more]al for our room to be near my mother's, we were allocated a room on the 4th floor while hers was on the 2nd. Given that we were traveling with our 5-month-old, proximity to my mother was important for us. Although the front desk assured us they would relocate us by the second day, we were never contacted. Furthermore, upon check-in, we discovered that the air conditioning in our room was malfunctioning. Despite notifying the staff immediately, and multiple attempts by technicians to fix it, the issue persisted, leading to an uncomfortable first night for us and our infant. After enduring three days in a sweltering room without resolution, we escalated our concerns to management. Subsequently, we were relocated, but this delay consumed a significant portion of our seven-day vacation. Additionally, we found the resort's booking system for a la carte dinners overly complex, as reservations could only be made on the day of dining, requiring us to wake up early each morning to secure a spot. Due to these specific issues, I am unlikely to choose this resort for future stays.

Catalonia Royal Tulum: Beautiful and relaxing!

The resort grounds were beautiful. I loved the garden pathways. The beach was great and loved the proximity from the beach to pool area. We enjoyed a quick back and forth between the two! Nightly entertainment was good, the glow party was a lot of fun, the DJ played great music. Good selection of restaurants although I found it challenging that supper time meals needed reservations, so it made it hard to just be in the moment and go for dinner when you felt ready. We were also not told on arriva [... read more]l that supper meals required reservations , we found out by accident. You can always order room service but selection is limited and food was not great. Food at restaurants was good, aesthetically most restaurants were a bit bland looking though. I liked this resort wasn’t overcrowded and there was a good age range of guests. This isn’t a “party resort” which is what we were looking for. They did not have a lot of on resort activities, such as free waters sports, which is a little disappointing. we also weren’t made aware of all the different activities that were available during the day. When we arrived, it was quite late and it was a bit disappointing not to be greeted with a drink, or some type of itinerary of events to have a sense of what was happening or how to access them. Overall, the pros far outweighed the cons and it was a comfy and relaxing resort. We’d go again.

Catalonia Royal Tulum: Fun resort

Overall a good experience. Entertainment staff was excellent! I enjoyed games by the pool daily. Rooms were quiet and well kept. Mini-bar was stocked daily without fail. The surf was rough most days, so we didn't spend time at the beach as we normally would. The evening show or activity didn't start until 9:30pm, which is a little late for us. So we only saw 1 show. Biggest drawback for us was **There is no dinner buffet! ** This is the only all-inclusive that we have ever been to t [... read more]hat didn't have one. Every dinner had to be pre-booked. So on our first night there, we had to order room service, as we couldn't find an opening anywhere! When on vacation, we don't like being tied to timelines. Also, we didn't like being hounded by different "concierges" about 'gifts' we could get if we took a tour with them and listen to their spiel.

Catalonia Yucatan: Nice Stay

The room at the Catalonia Yucatan hotel could benefit from some renovations, as it showed signs of wear and tear, with paint peeling off the doors and chipped bathroom tiles. However, the hotel staff was very friendly and helpful. The beach at the Catalonia Yucatan hotel was disappointing due to the abundance of seaweed, and in some areas, the beach bed was rocky. Thankfully, we packed our water shoes, which helped. We tried to use the beach at a neighboring property, where Catalonia Yucatan gue [... read more]sts have access, but the staff informed us we could only use the beach, not the loungers. However, we found a nice, clean beach without seaweed at the Catalonia Maya Riviera hotel next door. Although this area is designated for privileged guests, we were able to use the loungers without any issues. However, the bar next to this area is exclusive to privileged guests, so we had to walk all the way to the other pool bar for drinks. The seaweed issue seems to be seasonal, occurring in April, May, and June. We were told that there is no seaweed during the November, December, and January season. I wish they would change the flight schedule for this trip. Our flight left Toronto at 6:15am, meaning we had to be at the airport by 3:00am or 4:00am at the latest. The return flight was also tiring, with our airport pick-up from the hotel at 5:00am, so we had to get up by 4:00am to get ready and pack. This early schedule meant we couldn’t have breakfast at the hotel, as the restaurant opens at 7:00am. Additionally, the bus ride to the airport was long since we were the first to board and it made multiple stops at other hotels before reaching Cancun airport. We had already been up since 4:00am. They should schedule these flights later to avoid such early wake-up times. What truly made this trip enjoyable was the Mexican people. They were helpful and cheerful, and genuinely wanted us to enjoy visiting their country.

Catalonia Grand Costa Mujeres: Excellent Resort

We were really impressed with the quality of the food, drinks and the service. We will definitely come back to this resort. We had the swim out suite and it was wonderful. The staff were really great and we were impressed with the Spa, gym, night entertainment shows.

Catalonia Royal Tulum: Amazing Resort

Our trip to Catalonia Royal Tulum was amazing. The food is excellent, the resort is clean and what to say about the staff....they were ALL amazing. Le resort a su gardé un beau cachet des pierres de la sité des Mayas et de la forêt. Le pont qui relie les Villas à la piscine et buffet est simplement magique le soir. Tout est propre et bien entretenu.

Catalonia Royal Tulum: Great resort

The resort was fantastic. Food was great. The staff is amazing and the rooms were nice and clean. I was disappointed to find out upon my arrival that the buffet is only open for dinner on Saturdays. You need to make a reservation for the restaurants and if they are all booked up you have to order room service...which sucks when you're hungry. I would have liked a place where I can go eat after 5pm. Also, I found the entertainment to be lacking.

Catalonia Bavaro Resort: beach

grounds are nice , a lot of items did not work right in the room , like show knob falling off and A/C only down to 24 deg., but the beach was great !, Food was good ,But not a lot was label gluten free need more .

Catalonia Royal Bavaro: The executive club

I can start my review from the booking. I found some hotels that I was interested in and send them to Carl. It was during holiday but she was very responsive all the way till I booked. After I called a couple of time as I had questions, I left VMs and emails but never got any replies. The trip central customer service team always is responsive however I was expecting to hear from an agent who I booked with. Another very bad experience with booking is that I was promised a free parking stay for [... read more] 1 week. Their voucher did not work when I was flying out. I called Carol ( did not respond as before) and the customer service. They suggested I pay and then they would reimburse me when I come back and send them my invoice. That was back in February and we are at the end of April. I called multiple tines and still did not get my money back. The resort itself was good. The annoying part was the sale pitch for exclusive club. It seems this is very normal if you travel to Dominican Republic but I did not know about this. They are pushy and are trying to sell you an experience (an opportunity to use the exclusive club) for 25 to 30 grand. This is not even timeshare so basically you have to buy your tickets and your hotel room but they will upgrade you to exclusive club. You are paying the 30 grand in advance for this. Definitely not worth it. Food was good. The resort was overall good but nothing over the top. We booked adult only exclusive club and when we compared it with the regular or kids side, exclusive was much better. We paid more when we booked exclusive and that was worth it. You have to book the restaurants for dinner at the resort but it’s fairly easy and they always have room. Even thought we preferred the buffet style (they had it in 2 of the days in week) it was still okay and we had no issues with the food. Activities was bland not much entertainment. It seems like the entertainment was mostly geared towards older adults. Overall if you are not looking for a busy vibe and are looking for relaxing vacation in Dominican I would recommend this. I would not recommend my experience with my agent for booking. I am still indecisive about booking with trip central for my next vacation. I booked twice and I don’t know if their services are adding to my experience as If I am doing all the work myself why would I need an agent!

Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Rocky start

Overall this is a very nice resort, restaurants & bars are very good lots of variety for food choices but even with the privilege upgrade you cannot get premium drinks. Check in did take a long time & we had a descent room however after walking around the resort we came back to our room to find water leaking through a ceiling pot light onto the floor & coffee maker. We called reception & they advised they would send a maintenance person, I asked why as water & electricity is a very dangerous com [... read more]bination & we did not feel safe to be in this room! but she still had to send maintenance! after 2 more calls & me walking to reception 2 hours later maintenance guy (16-18 years old) showed up & immediately turned the light switch on? That was that we demanded to be moved, They moved us from the ground to the 3rd floor but after 1 night we could not take the noise from the air conditioner, if you turned it to low the fan blade started hitting something internally so we went back to reception and asked for yet another room. Again maintenance had to go check it so we went and booked some day trips with our Air Canada Rep Robenson who did a great job for us, when we told him about our issues with the rooms he came back to reception with us & asked the customer service desk what they were going to do for us. They agreed to move us again but would send a bell boy once the room was cleaned mid afternoon so we could check that the room was good enough, also they threw in a romantic dinner on the beach (valued @ $200 US each) to compensate us for the first room fiasco. Later in the day the bell boy took us to the next building over the executive traveler building & showed us a 3rd floor suite ocean view with everything upgraded, so we took it from that point on our 3rd day we were very happy. Also @ 5pm we got a knock at our door & room service brought us a plate of fresh fruit & a bottle of champagne and got a call from reception confirming that we were now happy. The upgrades were probably worth $2k so they did go the extra mile to make us happy.

Catalonia Riviera Maya: Stay At Catalonia

The hotel was clean and the workers never seemed to stop working. Meals seemed to be the same all the time at the buffet but was lots of choices. Seemed hard to book the a la carte dinners and they were never full??? so not sure why that was. The beach area and places for shade was great. Even though we go sick we had a good time

Catalonia Riviera Maya: Not impressed

There was four of us and we all got sick not sure if it was the food or the drinks. Even one of the workers said a lot of the staff are getting sick too. We tried to purchase medication but was all sold out at the resort store. What does that mean? Decide for yourself… There was construction going on at one of the restaurants which was right beside the pool and beach. Noise all day long every day we were there and we were there for 10 days. We tried moving away from the construction but then w [... read more]e ended up by the pool where all the loud music was. Good thing is the staff was very friendly and the resort was very clean. We won’t be going back.

Catalonia Bavaro Resort: Wonderful vacation.

We had an amazing vacation. The weather was hot! The food was fantastic. The kids loved the buffet. I was worried after reading reviews about getting sick but we had amazing food and no one got sick! The ala carte restaurants we went to (steakhouse and italian) were very good. The staff is exceptional. Contagious happy personalities that made the stay! Awesome pool. The ocean was warm and area in front of the resort was great, lots of sea grass otherwise. We stayed in privilege, rooms were ok,  [... read more]clean, air conditioning worked, and beds were comfy. Our only issue was that our sunwing transfer didn't come for return to airport and we had to get a taxi and pay which was supposed to be part of our package. Overall a amazing family trip and would recommend resort.

Catalonia Royal La Romana: Everything was Amazing

We were more than happy with the Royal Catalonia La Romana. Our room, the food, but mostly the staff were all wonderful. We had a swim up room connected to the main pool & the pool bar…what more could you ask for. Definitely paradise! We were there last year & are already planning on returning next year!

Catalonia Playa Maroma: We do not like this resort!

They have let the Caoti run ramped. They stole my large beach bag, opened the zipper and spread the contents in the bushes. I never found my reading glasses or my container of pills. They gather around when you are eating and help themselves to your food. They are not afraid of people! There is no escape for adults from screaming children at the pool. There needs to be a quiet area by the pool for adults who have paid for Privileged status. The music by the pool is louder than it needs to be. [... read more] You shouldn’t be able to hear it all the way to beach. Entertainment gets boring when you have to listen to the same mediocre singers every night.